Just as Zong Shen was pondering, a new prompt appeared.
[The passage to the second level, the Soul-Forging Furnace and Annihilation Arsenal, is about to open.]
[Warning: The second level does not contain a legacy of knowledge, but direct gifts of power and materials. It is also the testing ground and storage site for the Slavia Empire's final means of confronting the Eternal Frost Nightmare.]
[Warning: This level possesses an extreme energy environment. Highly activated and mutated Winter creations, as well as unfinished dream-slaying weapons, are present. Its danger far exceeds that of the first level.]
[Prompt: The inheritor may choose not to enter for now and first assimilate the gains from the first level. Forcing entry requires enduring the dual trials of [Soul-Forging] and [Annihilation]. The corresponding gifts can only be obtained after passing.]
The new announcements flowed past.
At that moment, the upheaval within the ice cavern also reached its peak.
A new passage appeared.
Within it was a dark crimson vortex.
At the center of that vortex, the outline of stairs descending downward could vaguely be seen.
The stairs were made of neither metal nor stone, their surface gleaming with a cold metallic light.
Yet beneath that surface, liquid energy seemed to be flowing.
"Soul-Forging Furnace... Annihilation Arsenal..."
Zong Shen repeated softly, his eyes brimming with interest.
"A testing ground and storage site?"
"It seems the Slavia Empire had not completely resigned itself to its fate before its downfall. They tried to forge weapons capable of opposing the Eternal Frost Nightmare."
"Unfinished products, and highly activated Winter creations..."
"Though they are echoes of failure, they still represent the greatest strength the empire gathered in its final days."
Zong Shen calculated silently.
He weighed the Eternal Sleep Flute in his hand.
A curve rose at the corner